How Interviewers Judge Job Applicants: A Qualitative Study

Abstract

The aim of a job interview is to allow an interviewer to judge whether an applicant will fit into the job at stake. This study investigated how various constructs (for instance, preinterview impressions, professional competencies, and attraction to applicants) influence interviewers’ judgment of applicants. The data were obtained from 49 qualitative interviews with job interviewers about their judgment of applicants. Attraction to the applicant was considered the most important construct in interviewers’ judgment processes, despite the fact that this has little to do with an applicant's job performance. The study argues that interviewers’ judgment processes are problematic, and that this is not due to poor interviewers. Instead, the very concept of the job interview leads to interviewers’ use of problematic constructs. The qualitative approach in the study provides insight into the way in which specific job interviewers judge applicants. Such insight cannot be gained from a quantitative approach, which has traditionally been used in job interview research. Finally, the study will provide a critical discussion of the psychological reasons for job interviewers’ use of problematic constructs in their decision making process.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I want to express my sincere acknowledgments to the hard working, innovative, and helpful team of research assistants who aided me with handling the data and contributing to careful discussions: Thank you very much. Furthermore, I really appreciate the comments of the reviewers, which have sharpened and nuanced the study, making it clearer.

Notes

¹I interviewed Sophia three times: after interview no. 11, after interview no. 12, and in an interview in which we discussed both of her interviews simultaneously. This reference is from the latter.